Song of Solomon 8:4-14
Some people think they have arrived when in fact they have only just begun their journey.
An Olympian athlete will spend years preparing and training for an event at the Olympics. That event may only take a few moments and then it is over. In some regards, it does not seem like it is really worth it.
Years and years of training for one brief moment of victory.
Some may look at the Christian life like that. And in some cases, it might be closer to the truth than anything else. But that brief moment is only possible because of years and years of practice and training.
(1941–1974), struggled in her singing career until she became part of a group known as the Mamas and the Papas. This group lasted less than three years and then they disbanded. Cass began her solo career and it was very rocky.
She went to London, married a barren and restarted her career. She was not very successful and the audiences were very slim. Then, it started to come together and the concert halls became packed and they gave her standing ovations.
She called Michelle Phillips after the final concert on July 28, (1974) elated that she had received standing ovations each night. She then retired for the evening and died in her sleep, at age 32, two months before her 33rd birthday, due to heart failure.
When she went to bed that night she thought her career was just starting but she never knew that that was her last concert.
In some ways, the Christian life is like that. We struggle and struggle and finally become victorious and then it’s all over.
When we delight in divine companionship, we believe that we have arrived. In a certain sense, we have but not the way we think.
Up until this divine companionship element of our Christian experience, our struggles have to do with the sin element in our life. I know we never truly get rid of that while we are here on earth, but there comes a point when we get beyond those struggles.
Unfortunately, many Christians do not get beyond those struggles. Many Christians do not know nor have they experienced this divine companionship that is so prevalent in the Song of Solomon. A relationship not based on desperation.
Song of Solomon 8:5
(NLV) “Who is this coming up from the desert, resting on her loved one?”
(KJV) “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?
What we have here is what I am calling The Wilderness Syndrome. One translation calls it the desert while the other calls it the wilderness. I am going to use the term wilderness because that is a little more to term.
This Wilderness Syndrome is a very important aspect of the Christian life illustrated in both the Old and New Testaments. Very many Christians do not understand this aspect of the Christian life today. We have the idea that the Christian life is just one smooth ride right into heaven. No facts or experiences, even suggest this kind of thing.
Theme…
Our wilderness experience is a testimony of our divine companionship.
In fact, it proves the reality of this companionship.
Up to this point, the relationship between the bride and the groom has been up and down while the bride is trying to figure out what it really means to be a bride. And she is trying to figure out her relationship to this groom.
This is a picture of our struggle in our Christian life. We struggle to find out what it really means to be a Christian and what our relationship to Christ really means.
By the time we have come to this point, we have dealt with all those relationship questions and have come to an understanding of our companionship with the groom or Christ.
Now comes the last stage of this that we call Christianity.
The wilderness is between Egypt and Canaan.
When Israel came out of Egypt on her way to the Canaan land, she had to go through the wilderness. This wilderness experience had a profound purpose for Israel.
This is the illustration that we have for us today.
When I come to the wilderness syndrome as it affects me as a Christian, there are three primary aspects that I need to understand.
I. The Trial Aspect
Song of Solomon 8:5
(NLV) “Who is this coming up from the desert, resting on her loved one?”
(KJV) “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?
This began when Israel left Egypt for the Canaan land. What they did not understand was the wilderness stood between Egypt and Canaan.
The illustration of this comes from when Israel left Egypt.
Exodus 12:31-36 – “31And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said.
32Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.
33And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.
34And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their cloathes upon their shoulders.
35And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:
36And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.”
The trials that Israel faced in the wilderness were to wean them completely from Egypt. In this passage, we see that they left Egypt with Egypt’s treasures. These needed to be purged from Israel completely.
Why must they be purged?
The baggage that they brought out of Egypt would only lead them away from Jehovah.
This is seen when Moses goes up into the mountain to receive the law of God.
Exodus 32:1-4 – “1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
Where did they get all of this jewelry and gold to build this idol? They got it from Egypt. What they brought from Egypt would eventually take them back to Egypt’s god.
The important thing that we see in this wilderness experience for Israel was that it did not define them and it was not the source of their provisions.
The manna that came daily had nothing whatsoever to do with the wilderness. It was completely apart from the wilderness. God will sustain you, not out of the wilderness, but out of his grace. Their shoes and garments did not work out. They didn’t need Egypt or anything from the wilderness to sustained. God sustained them each and every day.
The trials in the wilderness are to deliver us from the influence of Egypt in our life. God cannot accept the treasures of Egypt in our worship.
II. The Triumph Aspect
Matthew 4:1-11
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
In this wilderness experience, Satan challenges Jesus’ authority.
In our wilderness experience, Satan will challenge our authority as it is grounded in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we look at this wilderness experience of Jesus, we will see that our triumph is not in ourselves but rather in Jesus Christ. It is not me against Satan. Rather, it is the Christ in me that stands against Satan who cannot challenge his authority.
The wilderness shows us in a very clear fashion the dynamics of our triumph in Jesus Christ. The wilderness cannot defeat me because I rise above the environment of the wilderness and I am seated with Christ in the heavenlies.
III. The Transitional Aspect
Many Christians do not understand this transitional aspect.
For Israel, the wilderness was a transition from Egypt into the Canaan land. The wilderness was not a permanent destination.
In facing the trials within the wilderness experience, I am cleansing myself from anything connected with Egypt. I am also experiencing the triumph that Jesus brings into my life. Now I am seeing that this is transitioning me from Egypt into the Canaan land.
When I begin to understand this transitional aspect, I begin to look at my Christian experience quite different. It lifts me out of what John Bunyan called, “The Slough of Despond.”
You can tell those Christians who are in the spiritual swamp by their attitude concerning this present world. Many believe that their present circumstance is what defines them. And that their present circumstances is their final destination.
If only we can get a hold of this idea that in my Christian experience, I am transitioning into Canaan land. I am on my journey to heaven and I have not arrived yet.
My joy is in my destination, not my circumstances.
I am looking forward, not backward.
All you have to do is see how things are happening. Nobody stays young for very long. The older you get, the less energy you have to do anything. That should tell us something. That should tell us that this life is not the end.
Jim Reeves - This World Is Not My Home
“This world is not my home I’m just a passing through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore
Oh lord you know I have no friend like you
If heaven’s not my home then lord what will I do
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”
We need to consider that we are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
- “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
This transitional stage will not be completed until we finish our journey into heaven.
Conclusion…
Where are you in your journey to heaven?
This is a question we need to contemplate very seriously. If we understand that we are on a journey and that the final destination is heaven, we begin to understand the dynamics of our Christian experience.
We will begin to understand that our trials are designed so as to remove all of Egypt out of our life and enable us to enjoy the triumphs that we have in Christ and that we are in transition into glory land.
“WHERE is my SUNDAY paper?!” the irate customer yelled after calling the newspaper office.
“Madam,” said the newspaper employee, “today is Saturday. The Sunday paper is not delivered until tomorrow, on SUNDAY.”
There was quite a long pause on the other end of the phone, followed by a ray of recognition as she was heard to mutter, “Well, that explains why no one was at church either.”
